Green and Grey
by purplecrown14
Summary: Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy is realizing his feeling for a certain green eyed boy named Albus Severus Potter. also, thank you to my lovely beta jetsonastro24 who is helping me revise the chapters so i can repost them with better grammar and other stuff
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

His eyes. Beautiful, stunning, electric green caught mine, stopping me in my tracks. I could not look away, I would not look away, I could never look away from those glistening intense eyes that haunted my dreams. Not haunted, enlightened, illuminated my bedtime visions, causing me to feel complete bliss. When I woke up from my nighttime wonders, the world was unrealistic and boring, unrealistically boring. But then he looked at me, and I felt whole. Not just whole, complete in every way. He stared into my soul, reawakening memories of him from dreams and otherwise, stopping my heart, not letting me breathe. For those amazing seconds, neither of us moved, dragged in air, the pools of emerald green drenching me with their beauty, cutting off any other circulation of my body.

And then he looked away,

Turned,

Left me there, still as stone, hardly alive, and moved on down the now crowded halls.

I was alone, empty, broken.

I choked on air as it tried to move down my throat, my own blue grey eyes began to burn and wetness pooled at the tip of my eyelid. _You stupid baby_. I reprimanded myself _Malfoys don't cry, no they don't, not at all. I'm no Hufflepuff. Slytherin, strong, sexy, proud, nothing fazes me_, _nothing, not even Father._ But I couldn't even convince myself, Malfoys do cry, Father was wrong. I ran to the nearest classroom and locked the wooden door behind me with an ancient spell of my grandfather's.

I threw myself on the floor in the corner, wrapped my skinny pale arms around myself and allowed the tears to streak down my face repeatedly, not bothering to wipe them away, staining my stupidly expensive clothes Mother insisted on. Not that I cared.

Albus _Fucking_ Potter was ruining my life and yet I couldn't get him away. My mind always reverted to whenever I was tied, sick, upset, and focused on the astonishing details of the sixteen year old. His eyes, the most confusingly intriguing part of him; the unruly hair which made his god like features glow even more; the way he walked; how his lips moved when he cast a spell, how they would feel against my own if he would let me; his chiseled chest, slender yet muscular from the hours and hours he put into Quidditch training.

I would never, could never look as good as he did, act as tough and caring as he was, or treat the most terrible things with solemn respect that he showed daily to his many _admirers_, housemates, and me, since I was an enemy, not that I wanted to be, that was Father's fault. I hated him for that.

How could he have even gotten into Slytherin? He was more suited for a Ravenclaw, like me, or a Gryffindor, like Rosie and Lily and James and whoever else belonged to his ever-expanding Weasley-Potter family his father had built.

Through the years we had attended school, we were not friends, not that we ever were. We were not enemies, but the past between his father and mine impressed on us greatly. It would have been like the muggle's play Romeo and Juliet, if he thought about me the way I fantasized about him. Of course, it wasn't anything like that. He was obnoxiously heterosexual whereas I was totally and hopelessly bent. If he had asked, I would have been his in an instant. I slept around somewhat, if that's even the right word. I was more like a toy, I allowed people to use me for their desires as well as mine. I wanted to feel wanted, they just wanted to get rid of sexual tension, usually. Sometimes I enjoyed it, going back for seconds, or even thirds, but I pretended they were Albus Potter so that I could pleasure them correctly, using my imagination to allow them to release pent up aggressing and such.

Suddenly a bell rang from somewhere inside the belly of the castle, rattling the floor slightly. I was going to be late for Charms if I went, but I wasn't. I couldn't get those awe-inspiring green eyes out of my head. My eyes were still puffy and bloodshot, if I made an appearance at the class people would know I had been crying and they would think I was weak. Malfoys were not weak. No one would notice my absence.

Though I was a Ravenclaw, Father's reputation stuck with me. It didn't help me that I looked like him except that I was a little taller, leaner, and considerably more handsome than he had been. My hair, feminine in its blond silkiness, looked just like his. I shortened mine. Because of the fact that we were almost identical in appearance, teachers were constantly looking at me weirdly, students stayed away from me, even the headmistress, McGonagall, talked to me like I was a bomb just waiting to be set off.

My mother and I were in a verbal battle most of the time I was with her. She always found something to say about the way I walked, my silver earring, and my grades. If she wasn't yelling at me she wasn't happy. My father just sat in a chair, watching with sad eyes. He never defended me, I knew he wanted to, but he didn't. I wonder why him and Mother haven't divorced yet, but I guess it has something to do with their stupid pureblood pride. I always heard them fighting, I knew they weren't meant for each other and since it wasn't an arranged marriage, it guess it wasn't their fault. Adults are idiots.

I decided to stay in the desolate room, letting my mind wander endlessly, day dreaming about Albus Severus… and the things he could do to me. Imagining his arms on my hips, along my back, my neck, scratching, scaring me, making me his. I could almost feel the fast kisses along my spine, the way his tongue would drift out of his parted lips and lick my neck before nibbling, marking me. No one would say I wasn't his. My black skinny jeans were suddenly too tight. My erect sex organ pressed against the fabric, struggling to be free. I didn't wait. As I cradled it in one hand, testicles in the other, I filled my brain with images of Potter…. Albus. I told myself it was his hand that was pumping up and down, that he was leaning over me, bringing me closer and closer to mind-blowing orgasm.

I screamed his name when I came, shooting over my already drenched clothing. I couldn't move or think. My heart was doing double time and I felt waves of tiredness crashing over me. I slumped back against the wall, breathing heavily now. I had never wanked myself into this kind of oblivion before. But then, Potter had never looked at me that way, ever. I got excited just thinking about him but sleepiness clouded my mind and I could not even reform a proper cleaning spell.

Randomly I wondered what time it was, not that it mattered. I wasn't going anywhere. I closed my eyes, listening to the sounds of the castle and slowly darkness encased me, dragging me into yet another dream.

"Scorpius!" I jerked awake and away from the hand that was touching my shoulder.

"Who's that?" I asked, my mouth sounded dry and I looked down at myself. My pants and hem of my shirt were crusty and I looked around for my wand. He held it out to me.

"Albus Potter, are you ok?"

"Shit, Potter, what do you want?" I cleaned myself and stood up unsteadily.

"Wow… Scorpius… you look… are you ok?"

"Shut up and leave me alone." He lifted a hand to my hair, brushing the recently shagged look away. I sigh and moved away, "I'm serious, Potter, what do you want?" I tried to control my thoughts but they were going crazy.

Bringing me out of my thought, Albus explained, "You weren't in Charms or Herbology and I'm guessing Potions, but we don't have it at the same time, so I wasn't sure… when you weren't at dinner, no one went looking for you and I remembered… um… seeing you in the hallway before Charms… so I went looking for you… I guess I found you." He grinned shyly.

"You didn't have to Al- Potter, I mean Potter, why do you care anyway?" My voice was cold and menacing, why did I say that? It wasn't like he was being mean to me or anything. God, I'm such an idiot.

"I just… no one seemed to care that you were missing… your own house, um" he stopped talking. I looked up and realized I had just let out a small sob. "I didn't mean… um, I'm sorry… I should go…" He began to drift away and I felt my stomach drop and before I could stop myself,

"No! Stay… please." _I. Am. An. Idiot._ But he just nodded and set next to me. We were still in the silence and the dark room seemed to spin around me as I felt his presence. It might have been minutes, hours, or days and I did nothing, not wanting it to end. If I died that very moment, at least he would have been next to me.

"You know… I… I don't hate you." He broke the quietness; I stared at him. He merely nodded and I didn't know what to say. My vocal chords seemed to have failed me, but after several attempts I was able to say

"I don't hate you either." We stared at each other for a few seconds until finally I needed air, looked away, and inhaled noisily.

"Well I guess I should formally introduce myself. Hi, I'm Albus Severus Potter. My parents might get a divorce. My father is the Great Harry Potter and hates it. I'm in Slytherin, but I don't fit in. I like books and the spring and dreaming." He stuck out his hand and I took it, marveling at its warmth.

"Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy. Ravenclaw, shy, no friends, sad father who hates his life and is in love with a man." Weird how alike we are, "I like dreaming, too, sometimes I'm too caught up in it and I can't tell the difference between that and reality." _I love you, your eyes, hands, the way you talk, I want you I need you. _I thought to myself, wishing I could pour it out to him.

I stared into his shimmering emerald eyes and tried to use my own grey eyes to transfer my inner monologue into him. He just smiled at me and all the tension that I did not realize I possessed left me, my knees felt weak, my body like jelly, and my face bloomed red.

I plucked up my courage and looked at him again, "Do you want to be friends?" I sighed, my breath taking my confidence away with it, "I mean, of course you don't have to… um, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

For a second I thought he was going to walk away, face scrunched up in disgust, but he smirked at me, his inner Slytherin showing through his mask and suddenly, I couldn't feel the ground beneath my feet and there were arms around me. I couldn't breathe, my brain working overtime and could not work out what had just happened. Albus Potter was **hugging** me, my face on his muscled shoulder, glasses askew. I could feel every curve of his chest pressing against my rather skinny one, his hair walling into my face. Strawberries and honey met my nose. I had never smelt anything more potent or lovely. I shut my eyes and allowed myself to open my senses, but too soon cold spread through me, he moved a few inches and something in my heart shifted.

"Sorry, you looked like you needed a hug… and since we're Friends and all… you smell good, like mint and lemon," he chuckled nervously.

"Thank you, you were right, I needed a hug," I assured him, hoping I had said the right thing. Silence greeted my ears and I looked at my black converse sneakers, wishing I could melt into the marble below my feet.

"So um, do you want my Charms notes? Since you weren't there." I nodded and there was a flurry of movement and suddenly a few pieces of parchment were trust into my hands, "and Herbology notes too."

"Thanks," I muttered.

"Hey, you're probably hungry. I know where the kitchen entrance is, we could go and get some food…" I smiled slightly, "Alright, come on!" he grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door. We walked through the corridors and hallways, down stairs, and under archways until we reached a painting of a fruit bowl. I was confused but then he reached out a finger and tickled the pear. The painting opened to reveal a kitchen full of house elves moving around preparing delicious smelling food. Albus called out to one of them and asked for two plates of that night's dinner. The ridiculously clothed elf returned with a tray laden with dishes piled high with chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, roast beef, Sheppard's pie, and more. The elf introduced himself as Dobby and led us to an unoccupied corner.

We ate slowly, Albus asking me questions and me trying to answer as best as possible. Dobby brought us dessert and tea. My stomach was aching, but I didn't want to stop eating because if I did, there would be less time to talk to the Slytherin. All too soon, however, the plates were clean, my stomach felt like I had swallowed a brick and Albus stood up.

He walked me to the door of the Ravenclaw dormitories and told me he'd see me tomorrow. I smiled the whole time, even as he walked away. When I was alone, I walked into the common room and threw myself onto a shabby armchair by the dying fire and closed my eyes.

I woke in a cold sweat. The sun had barely risen past the clouds. I moved quickly up the marble steps to my bed, quietly so as to not wake up my dorm-mates, and sat down on the edge, hugging my knees close. Tonight, or rather last night could not possibly be real. My imagination had gone over the top, I was moving on to full on hallucinations, but it had to be real. I could not have made up what Albus said to me. Him going to Slytherin because his father's choice of Gryffindor led him to depression and an imposing divorce (at least that's how he saw it; his inability to cast a complete Patronus; how whenever he was thinking, he bit his lip.

We had talked about many things, but most just mixed together in an incoherent steam of words flowing from Albus' beautiful mouth.

I remembered confessing my fear of the dark and small places and my ownership of a now ripped and old bunny rabbit teddy that had been my faithful companion when Father went to ministry functions and left me behind.

I could not over Albus' kindness, it was scary kind of, how fast he accepted me into his life. I wondered out of nowhere if it was some Slytherin plot to get my father back for his lack of support to Death Eaters. No, Albus was a nice person, he wouldn't do something so horrid or maybe he wished to find out my secrets and spill them to the world, eternally embarrassing me. _No, stop, he's the first friend you've ever had. I need to trust him. _My conscious was reassuring me, caressing me inner turmoil, soothing it.

Two hours until breakfast, two hours until I was to find out the tall Slytherin's intentions. I showered, drifting under the light pressure of the miniscule droplets. I picked and repicked my outfit, finally settling on jeans and a white shirt under my robes. My blond hair ruffled and my earring sparkling. Slight eyeliner on my eyes and I was ready.

Being friendless allowed me to dress as I wanted and act as I wanted. I did not care anymore about the weirded-out stared I received for my make up or dragon-skin boots. I didn't have to pretend in this place, I could be myself. That was the only reason I had not runaway and moved to America as I had planned so many times in my various daydreams. Well, that and the prospect of seeing Albus Potter every day, even if he sneered at me, barely looked at me, until yesterday. I wished, I hoped, I prayed to some god I didn't believe in that Albus was actually my friend.

I walked down to the Great Hall alone. As I passed various classmates, I caught snatches of conversations all pertaining to one thing, Albus Potter. From what I could understand, he had skived off his classes in search of someone and then didn't return to his dorm until after hours. People thought it was a girl and pestered him to try and get a name out of him, but he had escaped and no one was any wiser that they had been before. No one suspected that it was a boy, or that it was a Malfoy or that we were friends. I relaxed a bit at that bit of news and continued on my way, blocking out the soft conversations of my peers.

Sitting at the end of my house table, I grabbed a jar of orange juice and poured it into my goblet. It was a muggle drink, but pumpkin juice repulsed me, so this was the only alternative other than milk, which made me sick. Next I grabbed an almost burned piece of toast and a glob of butter, then a bowl of fruit with vanilla yogurt on the side. Before I could even get the fork towards my plate, I felt the cushioned bench beneath me shift slightly as someone sat down beside me. I was about to tell them to sod off, but as I turned, I realized it was Albus.

"Al- Potter, what are you doing?" I hissed at him, finally feeling the hundreds of eyes that were glaring at my back. I speared a strawberry and lifted it to my mouth, allowing its bitter sweetness to coat my lips before popping it in and chewing. He just smiled and stole a cantaloupe square.

"I wanted to sit next to you." He smiled and then began loading his plate with eggs, toast, bacon, and some of my fruit. Before he tucked into his morning feast, he nudged me slightly, in a playful way. I swear my heart felt like it was going to explode. He was so close, his eyes still looking at me curiously while he stuffed bits of food into his mouth. His pupils dilated a little and I had to convince myself it was just the food. "You can call my Al, you know, I don't mind. I'll call you Scorp and we'll be even." Smiling, I nodded and tried it.

"Al." It sounded funny on my tongue, like it belonged there, like I had said it before.

"Scorp. See, it works. And I like it better this way. Neither of us can really be defined by out last names, so yeah… Hi."

I gulped down the mouthful of juice I had just poured into my mouth and choked out a hello. He smiled and it reached his eyes, making him look more like a god than a human.

"So….Scorp, what do we have next?"

**Author's Note: **this is the first chapter of a AS/S story I'm writing and it's the first one, ever, so all reviews are appreciated, but not necessary, seeing as I will continue to write it anyway :) hope you enjoyed it


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2:**_

It took me a while until I remembered, "um, we have Charms, I think, let me check." I dived for my bag, ruffling through the papers and books and found my schedule. "…yeah, we do. You ready to go?" He stood up, scooping another piece of toast ito a napkin and grabbed his bag,

"Let's go!" I followed him out of the hall, trying, for the first time in five years, to ignore the whispers and pointing fingers. When we get to the classroom, I froze. Usually I sat at the back of the class, but Al sat in the middle and he was saying something about me sitting next to him. I decided to allow him to push me toward the desk and sat down automatically. Professor Lovegood stepped in front of the class, her eggplant earrings catching the light from a nearby window and her bright yellow robes were as vibrant as the sun. She was my favorite teacher and this was my favorite class, but I could not concentrate on the spells we were working on. Albus had already mastered them already so while he waited for me to catch up he stared on the essay that had been assigned. It was a good thing today was a partner day.

"We'll go to the library after classes," I promised as I headed to Muggle Studies. I took this class because I was interesting in muggles, **not** because I was trying to make fun of it or making up for my father's mistakes. My father was glad that I had begun to fin my own interests and not followed in his footsteps. That did not stop him, however from sneering when I asked him to sign the course list in third year and he had seen that I had marked the little check next to it.

Muggle Studies was my next favorite subject. We learned about how they made up for their lack of magic and created science. Instead of owls they had television, phones, and a different mailing system. Instead of brooms, Apparition, floo powder, or the Knight Bus, they had buses and cars and things called planes. Even their art was different, writing styles were similar, but theatre, paintings, sculptures, and in some cases buildings and designs were opposite from hours. The one thing that stood out from the other differences was the way they lived their everyday lives. We discussed the places where they lived, towns, cities, and sometimes even whole countries. Those lecture days were the best ones.

No matter how interesting the muggle dwellings were, they scared me slightly. More often than not, I daydreamed of running away to one of those places. It's not that I was frightened of running away, it was that it was an actual possibility and that I would be alone of I did snap and leave. It might not make sense to anyone but me, but Albus seemed to understand.

Next came Care of Magical Creatures and finally lunch, by that time, I was jumpy and excited. I could not wait to see Al and hoped we could sit together again. When I got to the Great Hall, however, he was sitting in a sea of gingers and brunettes at the Gryffindor table. I began to make my way to my normal seat, at the end of the Ravenclaw table, but Al stood up and, to my embarrassment and amusement, motioned at me to join him.

His family stared at him with shock clear on their faces, but he just smiled his infectious smile and though they were alarmed, had to smile back. Rosie Weasley-Granger moved so I could sit next to him. As soon as I was comfortable, the loud chatting started up again and I stole a smirk form Al before filling my plate with tomatoes and smoked salmon with capers. Lilly Potter, across from me and two years younger, questioned me enthusiastically about muggles (since she knew I took the class) as I ate. Through mouthfuls, I explained the point of light-switches and radios.

James Potter, two years older than Al and I, said nothing throughout the whole meal, glaring at Al constantly and pointedly ignoring my existence, which was fine by me. He was a jock, homophobic, and arrogant, much like the way Father described Harry Potter as a student. I could see the similarities in his features and there was no doubt he was Harry's son. Though he was no as handsome as Al, James had gotten the gift of popularity outside of his own family. Whether it had to do with his house, playing skills, or his father, or all three, I wasn't sure. I wondered if Al and James were treated differently by the Golden Boy.

A bell rang from the heart of the castle and announced the end of the meal. Al and I grabbed our bags and walked to the greenhouse, him talking excitedly about some present he got in the mail from his mother, Ginny Potter. It was some sort of contraption that played any music he wanted with the push of a button. He was so lucky to have a family who loved him enough to send him random, fun gifts even if it wasn't a holiday. He had parents who mattered to the world, not like mine who were considered less than scum on the bottom of a shoe. He had cousins and family friends a school. He was basically the opposite of me. I guess the saying "opposites attract" was true. Well for me anyway.

So it went on that we got to know each other in that way. Sitting at breakfast at my table, lunch with the Weasley-Potters, and then dinner at the library studying, sneaking food so the librarian wouldn't throw us out. I always sat next to him in the classes we had together. He always walked me to my classes and to the Ravenclaw tower before curfew. James began accepting me, though it was hard for him to be nice, but I was already like family to the others and suddenly I had friends. Al was my best friend (self appointed), but they were different and special to me. I had never had friends before and they helped me; asking questions, walking with Al and me in the halls, studying with us, joking, laughing, smiling. It was amazing. Never before has I been treated so nicely or kindly. The days became bearable, my classes easier, dormitories not as lonely.

"Hey, Malfoy, what'cha doing for the holidays?" Tony asked. He was in Hufflepuff and a _very_ good friend of Lily's. Christmas was coming son and that meant break was too. I stayed at school every year. There had been one year where I had gone home, but after seeing Father pass out drunk after screaming at my mother for something stupid, I never wanted to go back.

"Don't know. But I'm not going home, so I'll probably stay here, that's what I always do…"

"Really? Well I heard Lily and Rose talking about inviting you over to Lily's house, I guess her parents said no…. oh well, see you around! Bye." He waved at me as he began to jog over to where Lily and Hugo were sitting.

A few hours later I found myself running up to Al in the hallways after Potions.

"Hey, Al!"

"Scorp, hey! How'd you do on the potions essay?"

"I did… ok, I guess. I terrible at it though, he gave me an E, which is probably better than I deserved. My father's gonna be so mad." He probably would. Father always talked about how amazing he was at making potions and how much of a disappointment I was to the family for my lack of skills I that particular category.

"No he won't, don't worry about it. Anyway, you can make it up after break."

"Yeah…" sighing I took out the rolled up parchment and showed him the red scratches that littered it, shouting out what a failure I was.

"I told you to find more information about the slugs, but it doesn't matter, just remember that for the net essay." I nodded sadly, I hated essays. "Hey, I forgot to ask you, what're you doing for the holidays?" I looked at him and then away. _Was he implying that he wanted me to say at his home for break or just wondering? Would he care? Why am I still thinking like this? I'm so stupid sometimes…_

"um… I usually stay at the castle…" suddenly the air swirled with awkwardness for some unknown reason and we walked in silence into the Great Hall where we were met by Lily who grabbed my arm and dragged me to the table jumping up and down, talking at full speed.

"Ohmigod! Scorpius, guess what? So Al and I were talking yesterday about the break and we wanted you to come stay with us so I sent Mum and Dad an owl asking them if it was ok and then they answered, or actually, Dad did, saying it was ok, so please stay with us! Pleeeeeeeeeese!" Her words jumbled together, but I understood what she said and look at Al who mouthed 'Thank You' at her. She smiled hugely and whispered 'Welcome.' And then stuck her tongue out and pulled on my arm again.

"I'll have to talk to my parents, but they'll be fine with it. Are you sure it's ok with you guys and your parents?" I hoped I didn't seem to eager, but Lily and Al nodded, James just smirked at me and looked away.

"So you want to come?" Al looked uncertain, I didn't understand why so I said,

"Yeah, of course! It'll be nice, I hope. I've never spent Christmas with anyone other than my parents.

"Yeah it'll be nice. Oh, by the way, for the Christmas feast, we go over to my grandparents house, you know, Molly and Arthur Weasley. The other's will be there too. Its kinda like a huge unorganized family gathering. The best part is when Uncle Fred tells us a story," he and Lily shared a grin, "Anyway, some other people will be there too. The minister, Rubeus Hagrid, he used to be Care of Magical Creatures teacher, and a few other random friends, I guess. It's always fun."

"So Scorpius is coming to your house. Cool!" Rosie said as she sat down, "We'll see you a lot. Mum and Dad always make me and Hugo come over when they visit Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny. You'll get to meet my new baby sister."

"That would be really nice Rosie. I can't wait!" I was grinning from ear to ear. I had never had a Christmas without my parents or not alone. _This year is going to be awesome!_

We talked for most of the rest of the meal about presents and finally decided on a Secret Santa type thing. James conjured a hat so that when we wrote out names on a slip of paper and dropped it in the hat, it would pick who we gave a present to. I got Roxanne Weasley (George and Angelina Weasley's second child) but I had no idea what to get her and the fact that we had barely ever talked didn't make it any better. I couldn't ask for help because then I'd have to tell the person who I got, which was against the rules. All I knew about her was that she was two years younger than me and in Gryffindor. I figured I would just get her a gift card to Florish and Blotts so she could pick something out for herself.

Towards the end of lunch, I looked around the table. Lorcan and Lysander had their heads together, probably planning some prank. They were both 4th years and, obviously, twins. Their mother was Luna Lovegood and I wondered how they dealt with her being a teacher here, at Hogwarts. On the table next to them, was a huge chocolate bar, maybe it was spiked or something. Louis was being his anti-social self and was immersed in a mystery novel, chewing on one of his finger nails while Rose and Hugo were sitting next to him writing a letter. James and Fred (the II) left to work on a Herbology project. The rest of us were either talking quietly, doing left over work, or sitting quietly, deep in thought.

Through the next week, Al told me about his childhood. From being teased by James to holding Lily for the first time. He told me how amazing it felt when she opened her eyes and giggled at him. I wished he could hold me like that. Hat he would wrap his arms around me, but instead of being only a few seconds, for hours. Maybe even whisper sweet nothings into my ear and I would reach up and we'd share a small kiss before staring into each other's eyes. His beautiful ones sparkling until love took over us…

"Scorp!" Al's voice slashed through my imagination. "Hey, it's Thursday. Are you done packing? I haven't even started, but Lily's done. James is just moaning about not seeing his new girlfriend and Rosie was laughing at him earlier. She said she and Hugo were all set, but Hugo rolled his eyes so maybe not. Lorcan and Lysander were talking about everyone getting together on New Years and playing Quidditch in their backyard, so remember your broom, ok?"

"Yeah, sure. Um, Al? Are you sure your parents are ok with a _Malfoy_ in your home? 'Cause my father is worried your dad is gonna kidnap me or something, stupid I know, but…" Al just smiled and threw an arm around my shoulder. Tingles ran up and down my arm, goose bumps rose.

"Don't worry about it, they really want to meet you. I mean, you might have to charm some of the others into liking you, which won't be hard, but my parents trust my judgment and so far, I think you're no half bad." Sticking his tongue out at me, Al steered us in the direction of the library. "Just remember to pack ok, I don't wanna miss the train." With that, Al bounded off to the Potions section. About ten minutes later, he yelled out to me, receiving a piercing glare from the librarian. I put a finger inside my Herbology book to save my place and walked over to where him. He was holding a book open.

"Look, Scorp! Love Potions! I've been looking for this book for ages. This particular potion isn't like other ones. It doesn't make people fall in love with others, it shows you who your soul mate is, so it's kinda like the opposite. It doesn't say how exactly… but I was thinking of trying it."

"Um… ok…" I said nonchalantly, but inside my organs were twisting. _What if he wants me to try the potion. He'd find out that I'm in love with him and he'll be freaked out, 'cause he'll probably get some Gryffindor princess. What am I supposed to do? Shit…_ "Why do you care who your soul mate is? We're only fifteen."

" I know, it's just I've never had a girlfriend. What if I'm gay or something and I didn't know it? I don't want to break some girl's heart… I don't know, it just seemed like a good idea… I was kinda hoping you'd help me out.." He frowned and I felt bad. _Was I a bad friend?_

"No, it's ok, I'll help you… I guess. How long will it take to make?" This hadn't been the first time he had asked me to help him out with his potion experiments, but it would probably be the most awkward and the one that would end in the worst way. There would be no way we could go through this without me spilling my secret to him and ruining our friendship.

"Um, let me see… it says… three months. Ok, so I talked to Dad a few months ago through the floo and he said that when he was in second year, he, Uncle Ron, and Aunt Hermione made Polyjuice Potion in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom because they weren't allowed to make it and they hid the stuff there. I kinda wanted to try it, I mean it doesn't have to be a secret, but it'd be cool to do something that Dad did… so, wanna go check it out?"

"…ok..." Not seeming to think about it, Al ripped the page, folded up and stuck it in his pocket. Next, he grabbed my arm and pulled me along behind him.

Three months. That's all I had before he realized how I felt about him. I could runaway, pretend that I didn't like or know him so that we wouldn't be friends anymore, or I could tell him the truth before it was revealed to him in the most revealing way. As I sat with him on the cool, damp tiles of the bathroom, I watched Al create a list of all the ingredients he would need in perfect but cramped handwriting. His back was to me as he jotted down notes and his muscles moved under his thin purple shirt. _If only I could run my hand down them, caressing, squeezing, just feeling. Taking in the warmth and installing it to my memory. If I could hug him for hours or kiss his neck or hold his hand, twisting out fingers together, I would be happy. And if he were to accept my touches and hold me in return, rocking gently, I would be satisfied, elated. It would be perfect, if only it were true._

_**AN: just to be clear, all of this goes along with J.K.R.'s epilogue except for Fred, cuz i thought he should live. Info: James, Lily, and Al are all Harry and Ginny's kids, Louis (and Victoire and Dominique [they r too old for Hogwarts]) are Bill and Fluer's kids, Lucy and Molly are Percy and his wife Audrey's kids, Fred II and Roxanne are George and Angelina's kids, Rose and Hugo are Hermione and Ron's kids, Scorpius is Draco and Astoria's kid, and Lorcan and Lysander are twins of Luna ad some guy named Rolf. anyway, will try and get the next chapter in as soon as possible. :)**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

The train ride was uneventful. I sat with Al, Lily, Rosie, Lorcan and Lysander in a small compartment that we found at the last minute since Rosie was a bit late. They all talked over themselves, laughing, joking about events that I had not attended while I sat quietly next to Al, our legs touching. When the sweet cart came, they all picked out their favorites and split them amongst each other. I bought a huge bar of dark chocolate and nibbled it the rest of the way to King's Cross Station. When we arrived, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were standing near the end of the plat form and Pansy Parkinson stood a little away. I had no idea why she was here, but she was a friend of Father's so I trusted her. I knew very little about her other than that she never married, but visited Father at least three, if not more, times a week. Mother never liked her, but when I was little she gave me my little stuffed rabbit.

"Score!" She called as I stepped out of the train, motioning me to her.

"Hey, Pansy! Um, I'm going home with Al, Father said it was alright with him, so, not to be rude… but why are you here?" She just smiled.

"I'm here to make sure everything is set up and perfect so your father won't worry, give you hug and a kiss, and see you off safely. " With that, she pulled me into a bone crushing hug, and planted a lipstick coated kiss on my forehead, then smirked at me in only a way a Slytherin princes could, "Now go and have fun with your friend, but not too much…"

"Bye, Pans, thanks." Before I could turn around, Lily was calling for me to hurry up and Al was waving me over. I smiled at Pansy, trying to mimic her smirk, but failing miserably, and walked quickly over to where the Potters were standing. They then joined with the Wealeys. Al grabbed my hand and before I knew it, we were apparating out of the station to the Potter's house.

After the nauseating sensation of apparating had passed, looked around and realized were in Grimmauld Place. I had always been told about old pureblood family trees, but my own house was the only pureblood estate I had ever stepped foot in. Of course I knew this place inside and out, seeing as I spent hours poring over maps and diagrams.

Father had described Grimmauld Place as old, dusty, and stuffed with Black family heirlooms. It seemed the Potters has left most of the furniture and paintings as they were, but the walls were bright and everything was clean and shining. Light bulbs floated in the air, just below the ceiling, and the carpet felt thick and possibly soft under my boots.

"I didn't realize Grimmauld Place looked like this." I whispered to Al.

"How did you think it would look?"

"Older, grosser, full of ancient things with the Black family crest on it, or something. That's how my father described it. You know, it was one of the best pureblood establishments. The way the rooms are set up, the creatures that lived in it, the dark magic, the paintings, how big it really it. You guys hit the jackpot!" I smirked at him.

"How do you know all that stuff about my house?"

"You know I'm from a family where being a pureblood is the best thing ever. I've spent hours looking over family trees and maps of mansions and castles and old pureblood places and learning family traits, downfalls, and new blood."

"Oh, well maybe after dinner, we can go exploring." He stuck out his tongue at me, "I always find something new when I-"

"-Al! It's dinner time, bring your friend to the kitchen so we can eat." Mr. Potter called from the kitchen. When we walked through the doorway from the small hallway in which we had been standing in, we saw plates set out on a huge wooden table and a house elf moving around with a tray filled with steaming, food-laden dishes. "Your mum'll be home too late, so we can't wait for her. Kreacher, you almost finished?"

_Did he just talk to a __**house elf**__ like it was a person? What? _I watched as the old, ragged elf smiled at the Golden Boy and finished laying out the food platters.

"Yes Mr. Harry Potter, sir. All done! I hope you enjoy. I made the meal three times extra since you said there would be guests, including the Weasleys." Mr. Potter smiled back and thanked the elf, laughing at the comment about the Weasleys. Kreacher departed from the room.

Looking around, I realized there were more people than I had originally thought. Hermione Granger-Weasley, father said she was the brightest witch of their age, and the new baby who was giggling against someone who must have been Andromeda Black, my great aunt (she was banished from the family and her sister, my grandmother, never talked about her); a blue and green haired man who must have been Teddy Lupin; Louis, Dominique, and Victoire Weasley, Bill and Fleur Weasley's children; and Charlie Weasley were all in the crowded kitchen. James had apparently gotten the rest of the younger generation to pick their Secret Santa thing from the hat and had flooed to the other households to get the kids there too. On Christmas Eve, all of us would be giving and receiving one present from each other. Of course, we would get more presents, but it was nice to know that I would definitely be getting one.

Everyone sat down at the table which, if it has a mouth, would be groaning under the weight of all the food. Al whispered to me that Molly Weasley, his grandmother, had better food, but that that food was pretty good too. The family passed around the platters and I ended up filling my plate with vegetables, quiche, roasted pork, mashed potatoes, and tomatoes.

The adults asked us questions about school and classes when most everyone had eaten. Al talked about Potions and all the experiments that he had completed successfully, though he skipped the soul mates one, I guessed that he was embarrassed. Mr. Potter just kept his head down through the meal, eating slowly and not exchanging a single word. No one seemed bothered by this at all, but I wondered why he was acting that way especially when his son was talking about something he was extremely excited and proud of.

Lilly piped up at one point, asking if Toby and Lee-Anne, her two best friends who everyone seemed to know but me, could come over the day after Christmas so that they enjoy their presents together and her father nodded, not looking up to meet her eyes. Hermione Granger-Weasley patted Lily's arm and asked Rosie about her year so far.

At the end of diner, I realized that I did not have a place to sleep and asked Al about it.

"You're sleeping in my room, of course. Dad said it was ok. Hey, you wanna go see what we can find? You know like in the house and stuff… you said something about wanting to explore, right?" I just beamed at him, and he grabbed my hand and we began walking down the nearest hall.

We passed rooms with beautiful hand-carved doors, rooms with doors that seemed to be falling apart and even some without any doors at all. The golden plaques on the doors that were still there each informed us of who had lived there. I recognized most of the names while Al didn't know any other than a few of the old death eaters and a few of the Blacks.

Some rooms were new, furnished with gleaming surfaces and bright with new paint and decorations. Others were disgusting and dirty, with rags for bed sheets and moss covered desks. There were jewelry boxes and shelves stocked with ancient dark magic books. Also old cloaks in the wardrobes and letters and diaries scattered around.

One room was covered in plant life and buzzing with insects. In the middle of the floor was a bulbous pink, yellow, and orange flower, It was unlike any flower I had ever seen. As I walked toward it, it moved. The flower opened the reveal that the other sides of the petals were a baby blue color with midnight blue spots. The layers of color were dazzling and I didn't notice the small inscription on the pot until I had circled it a few times. Looking down on it I realized it was just the name of the plant and walked away.

After about an hour, tired and sore from walking and discovering new things in Al's house, we found our way to Al's room and walked in. There was a mattress set out for me and my bag next to it. We got in pajamas and he fell asleep, leaving me to my thoughts. Images and different points in discussion from the day swirled through my head as I drifted in the almost silence.

Over the rest of the break, I got to know the Potter family a little better and talked a few times to Mr. Potter and was told to call him Harry. Lily's friends came over and so did James'. We played Quidditch at the twins house and visited Rosie and Hugo and their new baby sibling. They came over to Grimmauld Place a few times as well with their parents who spent their time with Harry. Ginny Potter never seemed to be home and I probably saw her once. Even though Mother could be mean sometimes, she was still my mother and I loved and needed her. How could Al be ok without his mother around?

On Christmas, I gave Roxanne gift cards to a few stores in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. Albus gave me three books and a huge bar of dark chocolate, because he remembered me eating one on the train. I received a note from my parents and a handful of galleons "to get whatever you want, honey." Lily gave me a home knit scarf that was made of purple, black, and silver yarn. It was a bit girly, but I liked it. I got a few other presents in addition to those, but there were just a few. It was nice though, that the Potter and Weasley family members that had gotten to know me, had thought of me enough to get me a present. In past years, a few galleons was all I was used to, it was nice to have a change.

I loved having Al always at my side for the week. We talked about all sorts of things. Our lives before Hogwarts, the "friends" we might have had in the past, and our families. Christmas brought around old memories that we shared, not that I had many. Al always talked about his family, the times they had together, trips they made, history, and new things that stuck with him. It was like listening to a story, a good one, that made me smile and feel warm inside.

The day before the holidays were over we finished little bits of homework in the morning and explored the house a bit more, ending up staring at the family tree and pointing out people and burnt out spots in the branches. To me the disowning of people and various bouts of family inbreeding was normal. All purebloods were related in some way, a fact of nature. It is impossible to remain pureblood completely without contaminating blood while straying from the family. Al had a harder time swallowing it, but accepted and moved on.

We didn't talk about the new experiment potion. I figured he had forgotten about it, and pushed it out of my mind. So when we got on the Knight Bus and there was no body but Lily and James around, who were playing Exploding Snap at the back, I was surprised when he brought it up. He complained about how long it would take to make and all the ingredients he would have to get past the potions master without him being suspicious. I just sat and listened, not really sure what to say. I was sure that if I opened my mouth I would say something stupid and everything would be ruined. I couldn't risk this. My first friendship. A real one.

**A/N: sorry this took so long, I have trouble with writing dialogue... but I don't think the next chapter will take so long to write *crosses fingers* and I will try to have it up as soon as possible :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

It was a few weeks after Christmas. I was walking down a hallway on the way back from researching a paper for Muggle Studies, when three sixth year Gryffindors cornered me They were heavily muscled, but they weren't huge. Quidditch players, I presumed. One of them stepped forward, the leader, with an ugly sneer on his face and his eyebrows scrunched up.

"Hey, Malfoy, what's up?" He looked down and cleaned under his nails with a small knife before looking back at me through his lashes and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Um… Muggle Studies?"

"Wow, never thought someone of you, uh, _status_ would care to research about muggles, let alone study it. I bet, I bet your father drilled your disgusting little head with anti-muggle shit and you're just having a laugh. Hmmm, well, Malfoy, I don't like that. Neither do my two friends here, so I guess we'll just have to do something about it. Guys?" The two thugs moved out from behind him and advanced on me.

"Get ready to be smashed, oh mighty pureblood."

Hours later, I found myself in a dark room, clutching my knees to my chest. When I unfolded my body, pain shot through it and my muscles tensed. I noticed a random mirror on the wall a few feet away and I dragged myself to it and surveyed the damages. One of my eyes was black with bruise and my nose was dripping with dried blood. It was hard for me to breath. Lifting up my shirt, I saw marks on my stomach and when I touch my ribs lightly, with one my fingertips, pain flitted through my chest. A few ribs broken.

Moving down to my legs, I didn't see anything until I tried to take off my shoes and failed. After spelling them off, I found that my toes were squished and red. When I put a tiny bit of pressure on them, the agony ripped through my foot. Gently taking my shirt off completely, I realized that there were scratches up and down my arms. Some of them closed with dried blood, others were deeper with little rivers of red falling from them.

Whimpering at the small spasms as I moved my body, I tried to think of a way to get to the infirmary. I couldn't walk, not in a long shot, and Malfoy's do not crawl. Forcing myself to think of a way to help myself, nothing came to mind. Impossibilities streamed through my mind for hours until I fell asleep again.

When I woke up a while later, I remembered at once how to get someone to come get me. Cursing my stupidity, I reached for my wand which had been thrown down a few feet away. I cast the Patronus Charm and thought in my head what the message was before sending it off. I carefully laid myself out as I waited.

What felt like an eternity later, Madam Olive arrived at the room, levitating a stretcher behind her. She knelt down to inspect my wounds and then spelled me onto the stretcher. Being moved around hurt so badly that I passed out, only to regain consciousness in the hospital with bandages tightly wrapped around most of my body. I dutifully swallowed the ghastly potion that was pressed to my lips and then promptly allowed the darkness of sleep takeover my mind again.

"Hey… Scorp, wake up." Al's voices crept into my dreams and pulled me out of them. I opened my eyes and everything was blurry. I blinked a few times.

"mmhphwt…" I tried to return to my imagination, but he touched my cheek. So, so, so gently. I felt my cheeks heat up "…what…?"

"Shh, it's ok. Madam Olive fixed you up. Everything is ok now. Can you tell me who did it though? I wanna go beat them up."

"No… don't. It was just some sixth years. Don't worry about it, I'm fine. It was nothing I couldn't handle."

"Well, actually mate, you've been out of it for about a week, but Olive wants you to stay here until at least tomorrow."

"Are you serious?"

"Deadly" he stuck his tongue out.

"Well, it doesn't matter, it's all good now."

"Ok, if you're sure, but if they try anything like this again, you'll tell me, yeah?" He stared down at me with such intensity, I couldn't say anything for a few seconds.

"Yeah, ok." Al sighed and sat down on a wooden chair next to the hospital bed. We chatted a little about things I missed, but Madam Olive kicked him out eventually and gave me another potion to choke down. I barely slept that night, tossing and turning while my joints reknit themselves completely and the bruises and cuts fully healed. The next morning I walked tentatively down to breakfast and sat slowly on the bench that I had chosen to eat at.

Al sat down beside me and immediately started blabbing about his potion. About two months and it would be read for him to take, though he said something about me taking it as well. I shuddered at the thought. I wished I had more time to convince him otherwise, but it wouldn't make a difference if I had four months or a few years, he was too stubborn. Al was going to find out whom his soul mate was, marry her, and leave me behind with a broken heart.

That morning, I decided I needed to prepare myself for the pain. Two months were all I had and I had to make a choice. Get closer to Al or stay away from him and save myself. No matter how Ravenclaw I was, my brain wasn't on my side. My heart, as demanding as ever, chose instead. _Maybe I should be a Hufflepuff…_

The days went by quickly, consisting of Al and his family, heaps of homework, classes and random conversations. My birthday came and passed with a bunch of surprises. I woke up to the sound of what seemed like monkeys outside the window. Looking down, I realized it was Al and Hugo shouting at me to wake up and "get your butt down here, prat." I threw on a shirt and skinny jeans, as usual. I checked myself in the mirror and applied my eyeliner. I ran out of the Ravenclaw tower and through the halls to the Great Hall. Exiting through the main doors, I sprinted to where there were and was tackled by Al.

"Hey Scorp!" Al said as he untangled himself from me, "Happy Birthday!"

"Thanks, Al. What are you guys doing outside? Before breakfast." I asked as Hugo joined us.

"Hallo, Scorpius, happy birthday! Sorry for waking you up, we nicked some Butterbeer from the kitchens. Thought we'd celebrate before class."

We sat outside through breakfast, talking and joking. It was the best birthday I had ever had. In years past, I'd gone the day hoping someone would remember or are. My parents always sent me a letter and a handful of galleons, but I barely ever used it. Having friends, who cared enough to hang out with me and joke with me and acknowledge my birthday was new and exciting. I loved it. They didn't give me presents, but I didn't need any to be happy. Having them there with me was enough. I even wished there was something I could give _them _just to show how much I appreciated them.

Rose, Lily, and Toby joined us in the middle of breakfast and we all sat down under the tree but the Lake. Everyone got a bottle of Butterbeer and mine was almost finished when the first bell rang. I walked to each class by someone of the family or their friends, which warmed me to my core. Each small conversation was heartening and lovely and I felt like I was floating for most of the day. At lunch, we all sat together and I got a ton of birthday wishes from people in the immediate vicinity. We had a lovely meal with most of my favorites.

After classes and dinner, Al, James, and I went to the library to study. James left us, though, for his girlfriend and sat in a corner in the back. Once we finished homework and copying notes that Al had taken for me throughout the week, we walked to the Room of Requirements. Al had been planning a party with his friends and family and no one would tell me anything about it, so it was a half surprise. When we walked through the door, we got an earful of blaring music, which people were dancing to, and a sight of snacks and drinks on a few tables all decorated with Happy Birthday signs and animated smiley faces.

We joined the fray, me trailing Al as he talked to people. I chatted with a few people as well, but when Al went to the dance floor, I abandoned courtesy and stood by myself ignoring people who walked by. I debated with myself whether or not to join him and decided against it. I didn't want rejections, especially on my birthday and even more because it had been such a wonderful day.

I was sipping my drink and standing awkwardly when suddenly someone grabbed me and dragged me to the dance floor. I deposited my drink on a table we passed and turned around to see my partner. It was too dark, however. I could only make out a figure. He was male and tall, but I had no idea who he was. I let go of reason as he started to dance and moved with him.

Songs passed, the hours flew by, but the mysterious boy and I never stopped dancing. We didn't speak or do anything other than move together. I felt free, open, and I did not want it to ever end. When the music got slower on someone's request, he pulled me into his arms and I rested my head on his shoulder. He had soft hair and smelled wonderful and perfect. Soon the song was over and people started jumping again, but we stayed the way we were, swaying slowly in a tight circle.

"I don't know who you are." I whispered softly against his neck after a few more songs had passed. The second those words escaped me, I wished I could grab them back and keep them in my mind. "Sorry, it doesn't matter."

"No, you're right," He whispered. I didn't recognize the voice, "I should go, thank you for the wonderful evening. I know you don't know who I am, but it's better that way. Happy birthday, Scorpius."

"No..." I tried to pull him back to me when he loosened his grip, but he just sighed and moved away, disappearing into the party, leaving me feeling more alone that I had before.

By the end of the night, I found myself sitting on a couch by a corner with an empty cup in my hand. I had no idea what had been in it, but it didn't matter that Al came up to me when everyone had left and helped me up.

"What's up, Scorp? Are you ok?" I shook my head and he rubbed my shoulder, for some reason thinking that friction would help me, "Wanna talk about it?" again, I shook my head and he just led me out of the room and back to Ravenclaw Tower. "ok, well, Happy Birthday, Scorpius, I hope you had a wonderful day other than… you know…" I smiled at him and hugged him. Then I thanked him and turned away.

It was all so confusing. I knew I loved Al. He was like a god, perfect in every way. His body, his humor, how he made me feel like jelly when he gave me a hug and so much more. I knew I would give up anything to be with him, but the guy I danced with kept popping up in my mind. I could almost feel his hands on me and his soft hair pressing against my cheek. I could feel his chest moving up and down as he breathed and held me close… But I had no idea who he was and I wanted him to hold me forever.

_Who the fuck could he be? I can't do this alone, its... too much. But who can I trust? Shit..._ But then it came to me.

I tore out of the tower and towards Gryffindor full speed ahead. Luckily, when I got there, a small second year girl was just stepping through the portrait hole and I called out for her to wait for a second. She froze and watching me, her eyes huge, as I ran closer.

"Could you go get Rose for me? Rose Weasley? I need to speak with her, it's important." The girl nodded and disappeared inside. Rosie exited through the hole a few minutes later and I motioned for her to follow me. As we walked, I decided to tell her about everything and hoped that she could help, or at least understand. Listening was good too.

"Rosie, I know we're not that close, but I trust you enough and there's something I need to get off my chest." She nodded and I continued, "Just hear me out, yeah? Questions after. I promise I'll answer them.: Again, she nodded and I took a deep breath. We entered an abandoned classroom and I sat down at one of the desks. She sat next to me. Swallowing more air, I looked at the floor and opened my mouth.

"Rosie, I've been in love with Al since about the first time I saw him. Or at least, I think I am. And this year we became friends, which was beyond my wildest dreams at the time. Now he's my best friend, dragging you lot with him," we smirked at each other before I turned serious again, "You guys have helped me though so much, I hope you know, and have given me some of the best experiences of my life. I've never had such a wonderful birthday or winter break or anything. But at the party tonight, I was dancing with some bloke. I don't know who he was, but we danced for ages. It felt like I could fly, my heart was soaring. But then he left me after I asked who he was. Al came up to me a while later and…. and… I don't know how to put my feelings into words… It was just too much. I know I love Al, with everything I have, but this new guy made me feel different. I've never been held the way he held me before. I just don't understand what's going on."

We sat in silence for a while before I remembered the soul mates potion, "Oh, and Al's experimenting with a potion that shows you who your soul mate it and wants me to take it too. I don't think I want to or can take it without him either finding out or me being so scared to take it that he would figure it out. I'm just… I'm just so…. confused."

"Oh…Scorpius…" She dragged me into her arms and pressed my face to her chest. I could feel her breasts through her shirt and I closed my eyes, trying to cancel the feeling from my mind. Girls can be so... gross sometimes... I don't know exactly what happened but the next thing I knew I was sobbing into her shirt, staining her shirt. She stroked my hair softly. "Shh… Shh… Honey, it'll be all right. Come on. Listen to me. We'll find out who the 'mystery man' is, ok? But maybe you should talk to Albus. He would understand."

"He doesn't love me like that though, even if he does love me at all. He's straight. Even if he was bent, he wouldn't like me like that."

"Have you two ever talked about girls or relationships?"

"No, just the soul mates potion thing…why? Do you think he's gay?" Now that I thought about it, Al never seemed to notice girls. He never talked about finding a girl and marrying or making a family. I had no idea where the whole soul mates thing came from, maybe he was trying to tell me something! _But wait. _I told myself, _don't forget that you don't know his side of the story. Don't get your hopes up; you'll only get hurt more if it's something else._

Rosie was nodding at me so I assumed she thought that Al was gay. "Can you talk to him? Or maybe I should… but I don't want to bring up anything that would make me have to explain everything to him." Rosie gave me a look that I took to mean that I had to be the one to talk to him, _fuck it all_, "I'll talk to him, happy?" She started bobbing her head in agreement again.

"Scorp- is it ok that I call you Scorp?- listen. I know it'll be hard, but you can do it, ok? And I'm here for you. You should talk to Lily if you want to, she's good with this kinda stuff. Hugo too, maybe, I'm sure he'd back you up. He looks menacing, but really, he has a kind heart. We all want to help you two, you know. We kind of suspected you liked him for ages…" She smirked at me and pulled her against her chest again. "I'm so happy you told me!" I blushed and she chuckled, "I'm always around if you want to talk, just remember that."

"Thank you Rosie, you don't know how much that means to me."

'Actually, seeing that it's you, I think I do."

**A/N: I don't actually know when Scorpius' birthday was so I kinda made it about a month after Christmas/New Year because of the Potion thingy. It would probably still be cold outside, but I like the idea of Hogwarts being able to monitor its weather so I made it possible for the kids to be outside even if it was January/February.**

**I am soooooo sorry for the wait I hope you liked this chapter. the next one is in the process of being typed up.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

Over the next few days, I went over idea after idea in my head of how to ask Al about his sexual preference. Rosie kept shooting my knowing glances every time she saw Al and I together and after Al asked me for the millionth time why Rosie was acting so weird, I decided I was just going to do it and get it over with.

We were sitting in the Ravenclaw common room doing homework. Al was twirling his quill between two fingers and kept biting his lip. The sight of him was making me jumpy and I blurted, "Al, can I talk to you for a sec.?"

"Hmmm, yeah sure, give me a second though…" He finished reading his passage and looked up, "What's up?" I grabbed his elbow and pulled him up. We walked away from the common room and to the dormitories since there was no one up there at the moment and I didn't think Al would want to have this conversation in front of people.

I mentally reassured myself and opened my mouth, "Al, are you gay?" He flinched and stepped back from me with wide eyes, but said nothing; "It's ok if you are. I'm gay too, you know." The moment those words hit his ears, he jumped and ran towards the door, "Al….?" He looked back at me and shook his head before launching himself out of the room and down the steps and finally out of the Ravenclaw house.

I punched a bedpost that was next to me and cursed under my breath as I felt the wood making contact with my skin. I stood there for a moment, shocked and in pain until I realized what had just happened and ran after him, holding my fist in one hand.

"Al, come back! Let's talk about this, please, Al!" He did nothing to acknowledge my shouts and kept running. He jumped down all the flights of steps and then skidded through the huge double doors that lead to the grounds outside.

I followed him until he couldn't run anymore and slowed down. It was so sudden though, that I almost ran into him, "Al, mate, are you ok?"

"Fuck no, you twat!" He spat at me. I took a step back and tried to figure out what he was thinking. Deciding against annoying him further, I waited for him to speak. The way he looked at me though, made me feel terrible. I waited for him to tell me he was disgusted and that he never ever wanted to talk to me or see me ever again; that he couldn't believe he had been friends with someone like me. As I watched, he hunched over and took a few deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling loudly, to get his breathing back to a normal pace.

He plopped down in the ground and tugged on my legs as if to tell me he wanted me to sit as well so I tentatively sank to my knees, though I prepared to run. Placing my hands on the ground to steady myself, I looked up at him. He was struggling with what he wanted to say and I was worried I had said the wring thing to start with. _I shouldn't have asked him if he was gay straight away. I should have eased into it. I'm such a stupid prat._

"How did you know? I mean, how did you know you were… _gay_?" His question startled me. So he wasn't angry at me for thinking he was gay? What? But I got myself together and tried to answer the question as best as I could.

"I guess I just always knew. Father's gay, so I knew what it meant and when I was old enough to think about marrying someone and having a family, whether I was a Prince Charming or a lowly farm boy, I just knew. I've never liked girls in _that_ way at all. At first I kinda tried to hide it from the children my father made me play with, but I finally just accepted it. I mean you know that bitch Zabini? Well when we were little, we used to play dress up. I could never understand why she had to be the princess and I had to be the prince and _we _had to get married to each other. I just wanted to marry whoever I wanted, be it a princess or a prince. Do you know what I mean? I guess I'm kind of rambling. Sorry, I just don't really know how to explain. I'm just… gay."

He played with a piece of grass before answering, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was afraid you would hate me. You're the only friend, I've really ever had, you know. I didn't want to lose you. I didn't want you to hate me especially with our father's past. I understand if you don't ever want to see or hear from me again."

"Why did you think I was gay?" He didn't deny hating me. Maybe he was just waiting until I finished explaining to tell me how much I disgusted him.

"I talked to Rosie on my birthday and she convinced me that we needed to talk about it. I just couldn't keep it in anymore especially with what happened at my party… well it doesn't matter. Anyway, I was just thinking a lot about my own sexual preferences and then I realized we never talked about it and I stereotyped you. I don't know… I'm really sorry."

"So that's why you were upset?" I nodded.

"Well, it's part of it, I guess."

"Oh. I don't know." He looked back at the ground.

"Don't know…what?"

"If I'm straight or bent or bi or anything. I've never had a girlfriend, but I've never really wanted one. But then again, I never wanted a boyfriend either."

"So why did you want to make a potion to find out who your soul mate is?" I had no idea what caused me to ask that. It was completely off topic, but it just rolled off my tongue. It wasn't even my place to be questioning him on anything now.

His eyebrows scrunched up and he tilted his head to the side, "I don't know that either. I saw it in a potions book and it looked interesting and stuff. Thought it might be cool. I actually read up on it and it says the potion is unreliable because people change all the time, so the magic is never really perfect and is wrong half the time. And sometimes even if you do love the person it says, you might grow up and realize that the potion was wrong and stuff. I thought it might be nice to see who the magic thought I'd be a good match with."

"Oh." I didn't really know what to say in response to that explanation, though it still didn't really make sense to me why he would want to talk the potion even if it probably wouldn't be right.

"Yeah. So… Scorp… do you like anyone?" He kind of smirked at me but it was weird, like there was an emotion that I couldn't see.

"Um, well yes." _Not thinking again. Why am I so fucking stupid?_

"Who is he?" Al was definitely grinning at me and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Nobody you need to know about. Plus, I'm not telling you." He humphed at me and I sighed. It's not like I could tell him how I felt about him or about the stranger at my party. He looked up at me with the cutest puppy eyes I had ever seen and focused all my strength on not letting him get to me. I shook my head to clear it and stared at the ground.

"Fine then, you big prat, I'll just have to guess." I looked back at him again and suddenly didn't understand why he was reacting so well.

"Why aren't you running away from me or something? I mean, I'm _gay_."

"Scorpius, are you crazy? You're my best friend. I don't care that you like boys over girls. It's who you are and I don't want you to change at all. I've known you for months and I haven't found a reason not to be my friend, why should sexual preferences change that? Look, I was raised to accept people, even Malfoys. Though my parents never liked your father, they told me I should never hate anyone needlessly and I've stuck with that. Why do you think I would run away from you because you're gay?"

"Well, I didn't know your views. I know a lot of people who would hate me because I'm gay so I just wanted to make sure, you know. Like I said, you're my only real friend and I don't want to lose you."

"Oh, so, but what would you have done if I told you to get away from me or that I was grossed out be you or something?" Maybe he was suggesting he felt that way. _Just get it together Scorpius, answer the question and be prepared to escape._

"I probably would get away from you like you asked and then never bother you again." _Curl up in a corner and die. Cry my eyes out alone at night and endure the next few years until we graduate until going to some place far, far away and never returning. Running away now to America. Jump off a cliff._

"Oh. I don't want that. Even if you don't believe me, I don't want you to go away. And I don't want you to change either. I love you the way you are and that won't change if your gay or if you turn out to be a purple and green monster." He smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile back. For now I would believe him. That he didn't care about whether I was gay or not, but I promised myself I would keep on my toes and be prepared for anything.

We walked back to the castle, talking quietly and Al waved at a girl who passed us. I went back to Ravenclaw Tower and he went to the Slytherin Dungeons. The silence pressed on my ears like it was fog and I had trouble falling asleep that night. The next morning I talked to Rosie about everything and she grinned at me and told me she was proud of me. Al was not at breakfast that morning, but I saw him in Charms. He had bags under his eyes as well. I wondered why, but forgot to ask him later that day at the library.

Throughout the next month, nothing happened. Lily's birthday came and passed. We celebrated with another party. Again I stayed by the side but nobody came up to me this time. I did not realize I had been hoping he stranger would return until he did not and I felt a tightness in my chest that I could not explain.

Even though OWLs was months away, the teachers started to bare down on us. There was more homework, more essays, harder Potions for us to brew, and leaflets to look through. Some people hired tutors to help them outside of class while others visited teachers every day to go over notes. Rosie was so worried about the tests that she made up schedules for studying, much like her mother from what I've heard, and gave one to Al and I and a few other people.

Before I met Al, I basically studied for fun. With no friends or things to do, I spent time in my dorm reading over textbooks and essays from past years. I had studied things above my year and felt more than prepared for the tests. Rosie and I poured over our notes together and Lily quizzed us sometimes, but honestly, I did not really need it.

The one issue that came up was Valentine's Day. It was not really an issue, just an uncomfortable feeling hanging in the air around us. Lily and Tony, James had his girlfriend, but of the small group who I had become true friends with, none of us had a girlfriend or a boyfriend. Throughout the day, singing hearts, streamers, and other Valentine decorations littered the hallways. At lunch the theme was pink and we had mashed sweet potatoes and weird red tomato tortilla things. For dessert was strawberry ice cream and other pinkish colored sweets.

A fourth year asked Rosie to be his valentine and she put him down nicely and he walked away sadly. Hugo laughed at her until she punched him in the shoulder, but that didn't stop me from smirking at her. Al was quiet during the day and when I asked him about it, he said he was just tired. On our way back to our respective houses, it looked like he was trying to say something to me, but he always closed his mouth. I asked him what he wanted to say and he just shook his head. We said good night and that was it.

**A/N: ok so, new chapter. thankfully it did not take me as long as the last one, though it is shorter which I'm very sorry about. I figure that if Al makes the potion it would be about March 30th or something- just so it's easier to figure out how time is going. I will post the next chapter as soon as it is finished. thank you for waiting for me :) 3**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

I was studying with Rosie when Al suddenly popped up behind us and tugged on my elbow.

"Scorp. Come on, I need to talk to you. Can you spare a moment?" I looked at Rosie and she motioned for me to proceed. I stuck my tongue out at her and followed Al to the corner of the room where no one could hear us. "So you know that potion I wanted to make- the soul mates one? Well I've been working on it and it's almost finished. I'm still not sure I want to take it or not, but I was wondering… if I did take it in the end, would you take it too?"

A million scenarios ran though my mind but I was coming up blank. Did I want to take to soul mates potion? Inside I knew I did not. Even if my soul mate was not supposed to be Albus, I did not think I could handle loving him and then thinking about having to love someone else, especially with the whole mystery guy thing- though I had not heard or seen from him since my party which was the first and only time I had ever had the pleasure to meet him.

I closed my eyes for a second, trying to rid my mind of the gorgeous puppy-dog face Al was giving me with little success. I rook a few shaky breaths and gazed at him with a perfectly blank face that my father taught me long ago. Malfoys are never to show pure emotion.

"I'd love to Al, but I don't think that I should. There are a bunch of things going on in my life right now that. Taking the potion would just add to that and I don't think I can handle it." His face fell, though he composed himself rather quickly and nodded.

"It's going to be finished by Friday and I'm going to take it that night. If you change your mind, just let me know, ok?"

"Sure."

We shared a small smile and I ran back to Rosie and we continued going over notes. Al disappeared to who knows where and the silencing charm around our table set a protective shield from the noises of the people around us. For the moment, I forgot about the soul mates potion and focused only on work.

Until Friday morning, I managed to think of the potion only twice and Al had not mentioned it at all. He came up to me at breakfast if I had changed my mind and then promptly asked me if I wanted to talk to him about anything when I gave him the same answer as before. I blew him off, telling him that it had nothing to do with him and that he should not worry at all. James called Al over for something and saved me from other questions. I picked at my food absently as I watched them talking animatedly.

Throughout the day, Al kept sending my questioning looks and I shook my head at him or just pretended like I didn't notice him doing it. The whole thing caused Rosie to look at me suspiciously and Hugo to ask if we were in a fight. Thankfully at dinner, Al wasn't around and no one asked me any more questions. I went to bed feeling queasy and wondering if Al had taken the potion. I knew that the answer he got about his soul mate might not be final, but it would certainly impact the way he acted which worried me about our friendship.

Finally I fell into a fitful sleep full of dreams of my father scolding me for something and that weird look my mother gave me when I did something wrong. Waking up was not much better as my hair was a mess of knots and the way my head hurt made me feel like I had unknowingly digested copious amounts of alcohol the night before though I had not.

The next morning, Al did not show up for breakfast or any of the morning classes we had together. Rose said that one of the Slytherin boys told her that he was sleeping, but she was not completely sure if he was telling the truth or not. Lunch was quiet and the rest of the day passed slowly but surely and ended in me finishing a mock test for transfiguration and passing out in the common room.

The rest of the week passed virtually uneventful. Al came back to classes the next day and everything went back to normal, mostly. He did not mention the potion to me at all, focusing all his attention on studying and eating. We talked briefly during meals and in the halls, but not long enough to talk about anything substantial. When I went to the library on one of the days that the both of us usually went, he skipped out and wrote an essay with Rosie for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

That next Saturday, my father sent me a message, asking me about how school was and whether or not I wanted to come home for the long weekend that began the Friday after next. Without Al around and not knowing what else I could possibly do during the four days, I sent him my answer. I walked to Hogsmeade with Rosie and Lily that afternoon where we met Al and Toby and one of Lily's other friends at the Three Broomsticks.

"Hey, Scorp. Whatcha doing for the long weekend next, next week? Al and Rosie and I are going back home. I think it's someone's birthday or something… anyway! So?" I sighed silently and answered as evenly as possible.

"I'm going home- my home, Malfoy Manor." Everyone at the table visibly bristled. "What?" I asked, I guessed what they were thinking about but I wanted to hear it from them first.

"Well, Scorp, I mean you always say how much you hate it and we've heard so much stuff about what's happened there and your parents and stuff… I guess we're worried about you if you go there." Rosie answered, looking around the table to make sure everyone was with her and they nodded in agreement.

"Oh. I hadn't thought of that but Father sent me a letter asking me if I would like to go home and I was alone at the time and did not know your guys' plans so I said I would. I didn't think it would be that much of a problem." I shrugged and took a sip of my butterbeer, focusing on the table in front of me. My companions looked at each other and then Al turned to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, Scorp, can we talk for a second?" It was not really a question so I stood up and led him outside of the main room and into one of the side rooms that were unoccupied.

"What?" I crossed my arms in front of my chest and waited for him to answer. It took him a while. "Al?" I whined and he looked up at me.

"What's going on with you? Why are you so… oh, I don't know, upset maybe?" He looked down again.

"Are you serious? You've been avoiding me like a plague since last Friday- the day you took that potion thingy. We have not had an honest conversation since before then. What am I supposed to think? We are supposed to be best friends, right? So why are you not telling me about things that are important to you? Do you not trust me? I mean, I thought the potion was a bad idea from the start, but you were so adamant about it so I supported you. Now you won't even talk to me for more than five minutes. What the actual fuck, Al? And then I get a letter from my father asking if I wanted to come home for a four day weekend and you know what the first thing that popped into my head was? 'It would be nice not to have to think about Al for a little bit.' Do you how terrible that is for me? You have been the only person who I ever was friends with and now I'm thinking things like this? It hurts, Al, right in here," I pointed to my heart, "Really."

The minute I finished my rant, I realized what I has said. A week of solitude shouldn't make anyone this upset. I was being an asshole and an idiot. It wasn't his fault- something was obviously bothering him because of the potion and I was being selfish.

"Al-"

"Scorp-"

We started talking at the same time, but I just kept speaking.

"Al. Look, I'm sorry. Something went wrong obviously and I'm being a prat. I'll leave you alone now." I turned away and walked through the door. Rosie, Lily, and her two friends were still sitting at the table and Hugo and one of his friends had joined them. I walked past the table without looking at them again and headed straight for the door. The person in the front handed me my jacket back and I headed back into the March afternoon.

The four day weekend was in about two weeks, a little less, but still. I had to avoid the Potter and Weasley family and their friends for that long and then until the end of school. I decided that since the only time all of us were forced into the same place at the same time was during meals so I called one of the house elves to me and asked for meals in my dorms. I didn't think that was actually allowed but the elf bowed to me and disapperated.

It took me less time than I suspected for them to realize that I was ignoring- well not _ignoring_ just staying away from- them. On Wednesday, Rosie came up to me during one of my solitary study sessions I made up for myself in the library. At first she did not make a move to talk to me and sat instead a few feet away in a more comfortable chair than the one I was in. After about ten minutes however, she walked over and poked me rather painfully on the shoulder.

"Scorp, what's going on?"

"it doesn't matter, Rosie. I was an asshole to Al for something that was probably not his fault and I feel bad. That's all. Look, I have to study, ok?" I began to open my book again but she stopped me.

"No. Why aren't you eating with us anymore? Hugo said you don't walk with him to class and Lily said you ignored her when she was telling you about something that she bought in Hogsmeade. Just because something stupid happened between you and Al doesn't mean that something happened between all of us. If Al is being an idiot, all you have o do is let us know and we'll straighten him out."

"Rosie. It's ok- it's me, not him. Why do you guys even like me anyway? I mean I've only really known you for three months and you at like you've known me forever. I guess this is just really weird for me, ok? Listen, I really appreciate your concern and that you still want to talk to me, but I think it's just better if I wait for Al to talk to me so we can work things out or he can at least let me into his mind a little. I'll come back to you guys after that. I promise. I wouldn't mind studying with you still if you want, though." She smiled at me and pulled her book to her and we began to look over our notes together.

Rosie jogged up to me right before I get into an empty compartment on the train. Al hadn't talked to me since that really terribly annoying day at Hogsmeade so I had not rejoined the Potter-Weasley family as I had planned to. I only talked to Rosie now and teachers of course when they asked me questions in class. Sometimes Lily or Hugo would wave to me in the halls and I would wave back.

I fell into a new routine all over again- this time not as fun. Wake up. Have breakfast in bed when my dorm-mates left. Go to classes. Skip lunch. Classes. Study and do homework. Eat dinner in the library. And finally, sleep. The days went by pretty quickly seeing as I always find myself something to do and soon enough its break.

"Hey, Scorp. We're a few compartments down if you need me, ok? If I don't see you before you leave, have a good weekend and I hope everything goes all right with your parents. Also. I talked to Al. I think you two need to talk to each other instead of forcing yourselves on me seeing as I'm not going to tell either one of you what the other said. If you want things to work out, you need to talk to each other. I don't really understand this thing between you but from what I know it's pretty freakin' stupid and I want it to stop. Got it?"

I nod to her and finish walking into the small room. I had a small bag on my shoulder with enough clothes for three days, toiletries, two books, and a few snacks that a house elf gave to me when I asked for it. I sat and found my page in one of the books and got comfortable, trying not to think of the awkward hellos and hugs that awaited me at the end of the train. The trolley lady came by and offered me some sweets but I shooed her away. Rosie visited me shortly after, saying that she needed to get away from the craziness that she called her family and we talked for a little bit. She left twenty minutes before we got to Kings Cross Station so I had time to make myself as presentable as possible.

I checked the mirror that I brought along with me. Not a single rumple or wrinkle on my shirt. My black pants were sharp. My earring was in full display and sparkling and my eyeliner thick and slightly haunting. I smiled at my reflection, though I combed my hair for the millionth time nervously.

Mother and Father were standing side by side on the platform a little ways away from the crowd of parents who are pushing towards their children. I grab my bag and walk out of the door at the end of the train so that I don't have to get caught up in that. In greeting, my parents ask me how the ride was and when I say it was ok, they look at me sadly and disapperate us to the Malfoy Manor.

Mother immediately goes into her rooms and locks the main door. Father walks with me to the sitting room so that we can talk.

"How has school been so far, Scorpius? You have failed to send us letters in the past few months. That cannot be tolerated. Tell me about school. Have you improved your Potion skills?" _Why must he always be so proper?_

"School is ok, Father. I became friends with the Potter boy a few months ago but we haven't spoken in about a week. As you should know, since you prescribe a weekly owl of my grades that I am doing no better in Potions than I was before and that I am excelling in all other subjects, for the most part. I've been too busy to send you letters with studying and having real friends for once so…" He sighs dramatically at me word choices but inquires about other things and then lets me go to my bed after about an hour.

As I lay in my bed, I began to think about everything but then exhaustion takes over and the last thing I think before I drift away is _this is going to be a loooong weekend._

_**A/N: Hey people. so here's the next chapter as promised. I think the next one will be the last or the one after that but I might write a sequel or short stories that also have to do with Albus and Scorpius. idk- I guess I'll work it out. So the long weekend thing- I think Easter is in March but I don't really know and I didn't really want to look it up, if I'm wrong, it could just be a random long weekend or something. I think it's pretty obvious to figure out what's going on between these two adorable kids, but whatever- it's cute and that's all that matters :P**_

hope you enjoyed it.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Getting on the train unnoticed was an adventure of its own though eventually I got into a compartment at the end that was empty. Before the train even began to move, I pulled out a Muggle book that I had hidden from Father and began to read. It was different than the regular books that I had read but most of the ideas were similar. I loved the Muggles thought of us wizards and their different descriptions of magic.

It took Rosie about five minutes to find me. She burst through the door and gave me an annoyed glare. Without invitation, she sat down across from me and grabbed my book away. She smiled slightly when she realized what I was reading but turned her face to stone once more and I waited for her to talk with a tiny smirk on my lips, just enough to flare more anger in her heart.

"Scorpius. Stop this. You need to talk to Al, he's been moping around all break. Just talk to him. Please, Scorp. I know you want to." I sneered at her.

"Oh, come on Rosie. I'm not giving up that easily. He has to come talk to me first- that's the only way I'll talk to him." Rosie stood up and glared down at me before walking to the door.

"You too are acting like a bunch of girls, this is ridiculous. I refuse to help either one of you ever again until you guys work it out between yourselves and that's it. I'll see you at class Scorp, maybe we can study a little bit or do homework." I nodded a her coldly before retrieving my book from where she had been sitting and opened it, finding my place. I heard her sigh as she slid the door open and left.

The welcome back feast was nothing special that night and I left early, heading for the dormitories. The second I got into the Ravenclaw Tower, I felt better. It was completely empty and quiet. Perfect. I got out my book and sat by the fireplace, enjoying the warmth. I called a house elf to fetch me a mug of hot chocolate which he brought back with marshmallows and chocolate and cookies on the side.

None of my housemates bothered to wake me up the next morning, though I was still on the couch in the common room. When I finally woke up with only a few minutes left until the first class of the day, I ran upstairs and threw on my clothes. I grabbed my bag, hastily checking to make sure everything was there on the way down and make it just in time.

The rest of the morning passed quietly though my teacher looked at me annoyed when I walked in a little late. When it was time for lunch, I decided to put a brave face on and eat lunch in the Great Hall. No one noticed me, or even acknowledged my existence when I sat down at the Ravenclaw table though I noticed Rosie looking over at me questioningly. I ignored her and started piling my plate with anything that looked mildly appealing. Hugo sat down next to me, though I didn't notice him until he bumped me on the shoulder.

"Hugo! What-" He cut me off and told me that since I was back to eating lunch with the rest of the student body, he wanted to sit with me. We talked about random things which led to me promising to help him with a project of his for transfiguration. Rosie kept shooting my death glares throughout the whole meal.

When the meal was over and it was time for the next class, which was Charms. Hugo walked me to my classroom before giving me a one armed hug and heading off in a different direction. By the time I walked inside and looked for a free place to sit, I realized the only place available was the one seat next to Rosie and I groaned internally. She won this time. I flumped down into the seat and got my books out. She was grinning from ear to ear like some crazy cat. I tried not to notice her but she just had to open her mouth and talk to me.

"You know, you should have sat with us at lunch today, though it was nice of Hugo to go and keep you company."

"Oh, shove it, Rosie, you said you'd leave me alone."

"Why were you late to your first class?" She pretended like she was taking notes so the teacher wouldn't notice us talking and I copied her.

"I fell asleep in the common room, no one bloody bothered to wake me up, ok? Could you just chill with your craziness?" She pouted and then poked me, probably leaving a bruise.

"But it's fun. Why do you have to be such a party pooper."

"Shut up, you. We have to take notes so we can do the homework later, or is Rosie so smart that she doesn't even have to pay attention in class?" She glared at me but dutifully looked at the front of the classroom and began taking notes from the lecture. Sadly, it was a subject I had already studied so I look a few notes here or there, but was mostly bored throughout the whole lesson. Rosie, on the other hand, was scribbling like crazy and was on her fourth roll of parchment when the bell for the next class rang.

"We'll finish this lecture on Thursday, be sure to bring your notes to class!"

I waited for Rosie by the door and when she joined me, we started to make out way down to Potions.

"I want you to sit with us at dinner. And I won't take no for an answer. You don't have to sit next to Al, since he's sitting with us too, but you have to be at the table, or I'm going to come find you and drag your sorry ass to the table in front of everyone. You know I'll do it." I glared at her as poisonously as possible, but nodded. There was no way I could argue with her. She was right and stronger.

Dinner was- for lack of a better word- interesting. I sat next to Rosie and Lorcan and across from Roxanne, Hugo, and Lily. All around us were other Potter-Weasleys with a few Lovegoods and Longbottoms mixed in. Al sat next to a kid whose first name I didn't know, but I knew his last name was Finnegan. They didn't talk at all and Al kept looking over at me, much like Rosie had at lunch, but without the meanness mixed in with the glances. The moment I sat down, the laughter and chatting and joking around started up and I was surrounded by constant noise. It was wonderful.

By the time I got back to the dorm, I was exhausted. Rosie and I had a crazy, long, and not so boring study session after dinner in the library ending with me covered in green goo and her with a full layer of dust from the magical books we had opened without checking them first for spells. I dropped my bag on the side of my bed and pulled my shirt off. As I started to get into the silk pajamas that Mother had given to me over break, I noticed a piece of paper sticking out of my bag that I didn't recognize.

I only use parchment paper but this was white bleached Muggle paper. After I finished changing, brushing my teeth, taking a shower, and thoroughly cleaning my face, I headed back to the bag and picked up the paper. It was folded up and not addressed to anyone so I grabbed my wand from my bedside table and checked the note for curses. Thankfully there were none and I opened it up.

It read:

_Dear Scorpius,_

_I know you probably hate me or something, since we haven't talked since that one weekend of at Hogsmeade, but would you please come to the R.O.R. At midnight so we can just talk? The room is: "somewhere comfortable to talk"._

_Love,_

_Al_

I cast Tempus and realized I had about ten minutes until midnight so I snuck down from the Tower quietly and quickly as possible. As I walked down the hallways and staircases that led to the seventh floor, I thought of how I would escape this place- not this place exactly, as in Hogwarts, just England. I wanted to get as far away from here as possible as soon as possible, though I couldn't see myself leaving until after seventh year. Then I'd be a full adult and be able to apperate. I would have access to the deposit of money Father set up for me on the day I was born. I would be able to go to Gringotts, take out the money and buy a portkey to America. Then I'd be free. I wouldn't have to read about Al's life, wife, and children in the papers, or stumble into his family at the Hogwarts express with my own children- if I had children that is.

When I got to the door, I walked in front of it three times, saying "somewhere comfortable to talk" in my head three times as well. I stopped and opened my eyes to stare at a red door with a golden handle. It looked... homelike... I wasn't exactly sure how to describe it, it just made me feel a tiny bit better. As I opened it and stepped through, I was suddenly reminded of the mysterious stranger who I had danced with at my party. I shook off the memory and looked around. Al was sitting in one of the purple couches and motioned for me to come over to him and sit in the couch next to him. I moved slowly, cautiously until I go to the empty purple couch and sat down on the very end of it, not allowing myself to get comfortable.

"So... you wanted to talk?" I asked to the room, not daring to look at Al.

"Yeah, well more like apologize and then explain."

"Apologize for what? There was something bugging you and I had no right to yell at you for that. I am at fault here. I should be the one saying sorry. Look, I'm a very selfish person and when you didn't talk to me I got... jealous- no that's not the right term. I got annoyed. I should have given you more time like a best friend would, but I didn't and I don't deserve your friendship for that reason." Al looked at me like I had gone mental or something.

"No, stop. Don't apologize. I should have told you right away what the potion said, it would have made this whole thing a lot easier." Al moved up on his couch a little bit, coming a tiny bit closer to me with each word. By the time he was done speaking, we were about a foot apart.

"...make what easier?" I asked in a whisper, not sure what was expected of me. But then Al closed the distance between us and kissed me. On my lips. It was not that much of a kiss- more like a peck, but it meant the world to me. "Al?" My voice sounded weird, a little breathy maybe. He leaned back and stared at me with his green eyes that had captured my heart years and years ago.

"Scorpius." He breathed, I felt his warm breath washing over my face. "You- I- you don't know how long I've been wanting to do that. Well, not that long actually, since the day before the long weekend. I hope you're ok with that. See the potion didn't tell me who my soul mate was exactly, it was more like a tiny voice telling me things about people I already knew. That bitch, Zabini, Nott, Goyle, The girl from Hufflepuff whose last name is Chang, and a ton of other people. But the only person who stood out to me was you and I started thinking about you. All the time. But you were studying or with Lily and Rosie and Hugo and other people and the emotions just kept building and then we had that 'talk' in Hogsmeade and I just felt terrible after that. But then I realized what was really bothering me. I'm really sorr-" I cut him off from whatever he was going to say by pulling to and kissing him.

I pulled away and looked into his eyes. "Al, I've been in love with you since first year. You don't have to be sorry, I know what it's like- not being sure what you feel. If you honestly want to do this, than I am all for it."

"Do what?"

"Kiss me. Be with me." I said in a whisper, hoping those words were the right ones, but he smirked at me and closed the distance between us. We shuffled around a bit and I ended up straddling him with him sitting on the couch underneath me. Small kisses became open-mouthed, tongue filled ones that lasted for ages. And I never ever wanted it to stop. We moved against each other in a battle of smooches, trying to one up the other with passion until the sun shone through the window that the Room of Requirement provided.

"We have to go to class." Al breathed in my ear. I sighed and started to move off of him, but he pulled me closer. "Meet me back here after dinner? So we can talk..." He looked unsure, like he thought I would refuse. _Shouldn't it be the other way around?_

"Yeah, ok. And I'll sit with you guys again."

"Wait, so you forgive me?"

"A little too late for that, don't you think."

"So... what are we?"

For a moment, I wasn't sure how to answer. "I don't know. It depends on you."

He grinned hugely. "Ok, _boyfriend_, let's go to breakfast!" I stood up and he followed me to the door with an arm around my shoulders.

"Wait! Stop. Are you sure you want people to know. I mean I don't care what they think, but you're Albus Potter, Harry Potter's son, and I'm the son of a Death Eater."

"I actually already talk to my dad when I realized that I really wanted you and he said not to worry about the press and other people because I should just be able to be happy and if you made me happy, it didn't matter who your father was or whether you were a boy or not. My mother agrees with him too. So come on, nothing to worry about. Let's go!" I grinned at him and we opened the door and walked down to the Great Hall with his arm firmly around my shoulders and mine around his waist.

People stared at us and whispered behind hands to their friends. One boy, a seventh year sneered at us but I heard one of the second year girls mutter "Aren't they gorgeous?" to her neighbor. By the time we got to the Gryffindor table (which is where we decided to have breakfast) every single person who had an opinion was talking about us. It was quite nice actually.

When we sat down, Rosie was almost jumping out of her chair and Hugo grinned at us. Lily and Toby were sitting quite close to each other and waved at us. We were greeted by the rest of the families and friends with smiles and nods. Not even James had anything mean to say at all. At first no one really knew what to say other than smile and "Hello" but eventually someone had a question and conversation bubbled up around us.

For the first time in a very very long time, life didn't seem so bad. Al and I were together and happy. We had kissed and cuddled and just sat with each other. We had braved the school and the families. I got what I had wished for and Al seemed to have as well.

We split up for first class of the day. Al placed a soft kiss on my cheek and ran off with Hugo while Rosie and I began our journey to class. In hushed tones I told her what had happened and she hugged me, telling me that she was proud of both of us and that she was happy that we were happy.

For the next few months until the summer holidays, Al and I found time around out studies to go to the Room of Requirement and just be together. We talked about everything and nothing. The kisses we shared each made me warm and fuzzy inside and left me feel lighter on my feet.

Exams were over and we had three days until the train would come and pick us up to take us all to King Cross Station. Al and I promised each other letters and fire calls. We decided we'd meet at Diagon Alley a week before school started up again and buy our supplies together. When we got to Platform 9¾ Al pulled me aside behind a column and we hugged tightly.

"You'll write?"

"Of course."

"Or forget me or anything?"

"Never. You?"

"No chance of that, ever."

We kissed for a few minutes, enjoying each other's warmth.

"I'll miss you."

"Miss you too."

_I love you, Al._

_Scorpius, I love you._

We though these statements of love in our heads, not wanting to intimidate the other incase the other didn't feel the same. We hugged one last time and I walked over to Mother and Father and he to his own family. We shared a small smile and then turned away.

Two and a half months? I could do that.

Mother asked me what was on my mind and I smirked at her. "Nothing." _Everything. Just loving Al, the usual. _She nodded to me and Father apparated us out of the train station but not before I sent a small kiss in Al's direction.


End file.
